Social Media Marketing

Instead of talking at your customers, why not have a conversation with them?

Social Media Marketing is an engagement of genuine conversation with your customers online. Expecting a more complex definition? Not necessary!

Sure, social media’s first impression was about novelty. It was the shiny new toy and market metrics reflected that. The “me-too” mentality of marketers and entrepreneurs alike drove adoption up at a breakneck pace and new social media sites were popping up out of nowhere. After this period of social media madness, there has been a steady return to normalcy for marketers AND users. The story has shifted from action (i.e. join sites, try them out) to behaviors (i.e. how much time people are spending on social media sites, what they are doing, etc.). Among the biggest behavioral shifts is that consumers are expecting to talk with companies online. Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, or any other social utility, consumers are at the “customer service” desk ringing the bell.

Are you answering?

The eBoost Way

There are very few shortcuts in social media marketing. Fortunately, you can streamline your efforts by establishing the correct foundation. This requires a systematic approach to social media marketing strategy. eBoost Consulting uses the POST method, as invented and popularized by Forrester Research.

P is for People. eBoost Consulting researches how your customers use and respond to social media. For instance, if your company is looking to reach business travelers, you might want to hang out more on ratings and review sites than social networks like Facebook.

O is for Objective. For a strict application of the POST method, there can only be one objective. Is your company looking to build brand recognition to an existing business unit? Is it launching a product and wanting feedback on its ease of use? Do you want to identify a core group of brand evangelists? Though being involved in Social Media will have many benefits, being forced to single out a primary objective helps to clarify the main objective of the campaign. Whatever the objective, companies would be well advised to tie it into their broader business goals.

S is for Strategy. Begin with the end point in mind. Whether this be a date when the objective is achieved, or a performance metric, this is where you will describe what the picture of success looks like and how it can be reached with a realistic scope, time, cost and resources expectation.

T is for Technology. This is where social media tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, wikis, MySpace, Twitter, et al, should be decided on.

Often (unfortunately, more often than not), companies and agencies start at “T” and say “Hey, let’s create a Facebook account,” or “I’ve heard blogging is the new thing to do, let’s sign up at Blogspot.” It’s that type of thinking that produces embarrassing social media snafus and non-strategic, haphazard, resource-wasting social media programs. By going through the POST method, we make sure we’re making the right decisions for the right reasons.